A Flair for the Ridiculous
__From the Jan 23, 2010 post from "A Flair for the Ridiculous"_____________
http://aflairfortheridiculous.tumblr.com/
Food
Food is one of the greatest things in the world. We eat it, we … eat it, and we even eat it! It sustains our fragile lives by its consumption, and lives have been devoted to its preparation. It is this preparation which concerns me today. Chefs and cooks everywhere slave slavishly away at their kitchens to construct masterpieces of culinary art that often look much better than they taste. In other kitchens, cooks just slap stuff on in order to make their sandwiches as fast as possible for the masses gathered outside their greasy kitchens. In the best kitchens, the chefs have found the balance between meticulousness and speed and can turn out if not a masterpiece, at least a Picasso in relatively good time.
I am a good eater. Those of you reading this who know me know I am skinnier than a twig, and probably don’t believe it. But in actuality, I eat an astonishing amount of food. Where does it go? Don’t worry about it. I also fancy myself a good cook, who can make pretty much anything as long as he has a recipe. Unfortunately, I also think I am a good enough cook that I can do whatever I want if I loosely base it around whatever recipe I’m using. That usually translates into adding more or less of a certain food, depending on my mood. It also translates into a somewhat loose interpretation of what the recipe actually says. Specifically, I believe there are two distinct types of cooks. The first puts ingredients in one at a time, in the order the recipe says. This results in a pristine, picture perfect replica of a book recipe. The second type of person just throws everything in the pot regardless of the actual order of what the recipe says. This results in a slightly sloppier picture, and good cooks everywhere will decry your cooking methods. But the point is that the food cooked by the second person is just as good as the food cooked by the first, it just doesn’t look quite as good.I am the second person. Unless there is a good reason not to throw everything in the pot at the beginning, that’s what I do. And for the most part, it works. If it doesn’t work, which never happens, I deign not to actually tell my parents it didn’t work. And, personally, I don’t really care what it looks like as long as it tastes good. Which method is better? Neither one, because the food tastes exactly the same either way.
You certainly enjoy cooking with wild abandon! I love developing new recipes and working with new flavors and ingredients. I do think the "throw it all in at once method" can turn disastrous at times though!
Kimberly,
from Exceptional Comfort
Thank you for your food story!
ReplyDeleteCooking can be fun - no Really it can be!!
ReplyDelete